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'X-Files' creator speaks on elusive movie script

Chris Carter swears that this time there really is a script to an ''X-Files'' movie sequel... well, he swears one is being worked on, anyway, but can't guarantee it'll ever get turned into an actual movie

Believers who’ve waited almost 10 years for a second X-Files movie got a sudden blast of hope last month when David Duchovny, speaking at the TCA summer press tour in support of his Showtime series Californication, said on July 14 that he and Gillian Anderson are both on board for a sequel and that he expected to see a script within the next two weeks. Those two weeks came and went, and no script or movie deal emerged, leaving many to wonder whether a film is any closer now than it was in 1998.

We got X-Files creator Chris Carter on the phone to find out what’s really up with this project, and though he confirms that a sequel is indeed in the works, he wouldn’t commit beyond saying they are in the process of putting together a script. Keep on believing…

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: So, everyone’s buzzing about the announcement that David Duchovny made at TCA about expecting an X-Files script within two weeks. What?s the status of the script? Is there a script?CHRIS CARTER: There’s a script being worked on.

Is the two-week time frame still applicable? Roughly. I really don?t want to speak too much about it because I’m superstitious, as you might imagine. But everything’s in the works. But there’s plenty of business to be done too. The interconnectedness of the business has proven to be a little bit complicated, so that’s got to get done too.

Is it safe to say that you and the other major players involved are working toward getting the movie made? Absolutely.

This rumor — the announcement that the X-Files movie is imminent seems to come up every six months or every year. We?re really working to make it happen now.

This time it’s for real, you’d say? Yes. I should say we’re working to make it happen. It’s for real that we’re working, but there are no guarantees that it will get made. I mean, it still has to go through a lot of different things, including a budgeting process.

Are there any other factors that are going to be very important in determining whether it comes through aside from just budgeting? I think people’s schedules, the budgeting, and finishing it before time gets tight — late next spring when everyone thinks there’s going to be a strike.

Is there a potential release date idea? No. That’s Fox. That will be their doing.

But if you’re thinking about getting it done before strike it would start sooner? No, no, they are thinking about it for a summer movie, but as far as a date, I couldn’t say.

Everybody is very interested in whether you are a fan of any of this sort of new breed of shows that seem to be very X-Files-inspired, like Lost and even things like Buffy seemed like it was borrowing from your show for a while. Are you a fan of any of those? I thought the pilot for Lost was great. I’m sorry to say that I’ve just been so busy I haven’t had a chance to be a regular viewer, although I’ve seen a few episodes on my iPod, and I think that’s a great show, but I have to say that I have, over the last few years, spent less time in front of the television than maybe in my entire life. [Laughs].

Are there any other media that you think are taking over for you in terms of an outlet for creativity? Are you enjoying graphic novels or anything like that? No, just enjoying my Netflix account.

Thank you for agreeing to talk to us and we’ll definitely look forward to getting more details as they leak out. I’ll take you up on that when the time comes. Right now, for reasons that you can probably imagine, I just want to really stay focused.